Ashed City-States
"Endure" The Ashed City States or Ashed Confederacy, also known as the smoke stone lands or steel cities by the unclaimed are a loose confederation of nation states inhabited by the Ashed peoples centered around fortified urbanized areas and manufacturing centers of Soi. They are politically isolationist and make up a small portion of the population of Soi. Cities are often given very indicative names to their location or function such as "EastGate" the easternmost city, "StoneSpring" a city in the mountain built on top of natural springs or "NorthCliff" a coastal cliff city on the northern border. The Ashed were the first civilization to develop an established currency, known as the Fellaticube, and are considered to be the most mercantile nation on the planet. History Economy he Ashed are the most prominent manufacturing centers of Soi. The economy of the city states is made up of various trade guilds each competing for the most successful guild in their niche business. The businesses of the city are prominently ones that take in raw materials and process them into manufactured goods. The businesses vary greatly from city to city due to different locations and natural resources, but their culture and religion often encourages them to sell services rather than depletable natural material from their own land. The guilds often compete greatly over particularly good craftsmen and jealously guard trade secrets and techniques. Political structure "When you borrow a tool, you return it in better condition than when you found it, the city is a tool like any other, and it must be kept clean and in good repair when you hand control over to someone else" (Anonymous council member) The Ashed City states are a Plutocratic society, each city state run by their own council of 14. The council is made up of 12 high powered merchants, one random citizen, and an empty seat for the Immortal that created the civilization if it should show itself. The council itself controls the interior workings of the city government, troops, laws, infrastructure and taxation which generally takes a flat 10% from citizens above living wage earnings. The council may out vote the Immortal if they are unanimously against a vote, otherwise, it has veto power. These occurrences are extremely rare as the 14th chair is often empty to the point where most Ashed citizens do not believe it is anything more than a rumor. The council themselves are disallowed from spending taxes on anything they themselves own.The 12 most prominent industries of a city dictate the 12 seats of the council, the highest earning before employees are paid bosses sit in the chairs, the 13th chair being a citizen picked by lottery. The council itself is overseen by the ethics council, a secretive group that is responsible for the well being of the citizenry and prevention of monopolies within the states and councils. The ethics council is a small group, drawing from taxation what they need, with an extremely stringent recruitment process. Should an instance of corruption occur, the council will act swiftly and above the laws jurisdiction ranging from simply arresting and charging the offender to ensuring they disappear forever. The council of 14 can act against them in their own private capacity should they get out of hand. The government controls only 10% of the wealth of the city states at any given time, whereas the council privately may control a greater portion by far. * -The City taxes are controlled by the Council of 14 * -The Ethics Council acts as oversight for the government to avoid corruption * -A single person known only as "The Handler" organizes council meetings and often plays diplomat between councilors. Their secondary purpose is to see to it that the 14th Council member is taken care of should they arrive. Culture Citizenship 'Every native born Ashed citizen must serve a mandatory period of 6 years of military service and training, beginning at 10 years of age. This military service incorporates basic level education including the ability to read and perform basic math and life skills as well as Ashed combat doctrine. For 6 years, every citizen trains and patrols the walls and streets of the city to keep order, security, and a sense of belonging in the society. After age 18, they may choose to stay on the guard, or choose another vocation they have discovered their aptitude in. The most skilled in combat or leadership usually stay in as guard captains, or are hired away by Ashed mercenary companies. Military The Ashed military is primarily made up of private mercenary guilds that are based in the cities. Their small population and lack of global involvement has made it so that their government controlled forces is limited to its city guard of mostly trainees that are not supposed to leave their borders. In the event the council of 14 or ethics wishes to engage in forces outside of their borders, they must draw upon public funds to hire mercenary companies from within their cities. Due to the resource policies, the steel used by Ashed mercenaries and guards is often coated with human byproduct oil in order to protect it from corrosion. It is stated that you can tell the approach of Ashed mercenary armies by the sound of their armor and the smell of oiled steel. This combined with their face covering helmets and extreme durability has led to more superstitious peoples believing that Ashed mercenaries are in fact steel constructs given life. Ashed soldiers are not very numerous in comparison to other civilizations, but as a consequence of being so near their city state are never short of of high grade steel. Coupled with their training and natural endurance even the lightest of ashed soldiers are classified by many other civilizations as heavy infantry due to the thickness of armor and shields. They tend to fight in phalanx formations made up of heavy two handed shields and spears with pockets of crossbows behind the walls of these human fortresses. Cavalry charges are almost unheard of, but they do occasionally field domesticated war bear/boar cavalry, which tend to be slower than horses and rather short ranged, but devastating if used correctly. In the event of invasion or danger to the city or its interests, or under direct command from the Immortal, the city may temporarily conscript every citizen of fighting ability and mercenary company until the danger has passed. Each company comes with its own set of combat doctrines and strategies. World activity The Ashed city states do not get involved with the greater politics of Soi due in part to their economic connections to most of the world, small population and their inability to unite the cities without the threat of imminent destruction. Oftentimes agents of individual businesses will be seen operating in the interests of their guild throughout Soi usually in the interest of acquiring resources or skilled individuals, but they never represent the city or confederacy as a whole. The Ashed maintain neutral relations with most nations, occasionally fighting off Goran or Woag incursions, fighting random barbarians, or border skirmishes with the Tallet Empire, even if they maintain trading agreements with individual cities. Relation to other nations The steel cities '--City Design--'The Cities themselves are built in concentric rings of large stone walls. Each wall forming a separate district which divides the functions of the city. This design makes them incredibly easy to defend and fortify as even if a wall is breached, it only makes a small portion of the city vulnerable. The outer rings of the city are often reserved for industrial districts or lower income housing, having larger pieces of available space in comparison to the inner ring. The inner ring usually houses the government offices, or higher income houses. Each city is usually build near water reservoirs or places where fresh water can be pumped into the city for a variety of functions from sewage, personal use, to cooling parts of the city which may be overheated. The color scheme of these cities tends to be very light on the streets and rooftops in order to keep them cool due to the lack of natural wind currents being blocked by the walls. Within the city are green districts to further amplify this cooling effect which also serve as resting spots for weary workers in between shifts. '--Outer Districts--''' -Industrial districts-Large areas of the city built for housing factories and workshops for the production of manufactured goods. Mass production areas aimed at filling large scale orders. -Outer market districts-Market areas that sell low to middle income goods and services, restaurants, food markets, local small businesses built for catering to small orders. -Low/middle income housing-Large sections of the city built for the lower and middle class homes and apartments. -Outer Green districts-Large public parks built for relaxation of workers and cooling of the city, often house artificial lakes and woods. -Guard District-Barracks and training grounds of the city guard and houses of education are housed here, judges and small courtrooms are held here. -Utility District-The areas of the city built to house the pumps and engineers for the cities aqueducts, sewage systems, and stored repair materials. '--Inner Districts--' -Council Chambers-The simple stone chambers in which the council meets and determines if any government action is needed to fix problems around the city or whether it should be left to the open market. An apartment building exists above each of these council chambers for unknown reasons that remains empty. -Inner market-Small markets designed to cater to high cost or high volume purchases such as massive orders from other nations for manufactured goods or mercenary armies. -High income housing-Small districts with few houses and estates. Highly expensive to live in. -Inner green districts-Smaller public parks that fulfill the same functions as their larger outer district counterparts '--Outskirts--' The outskirts of the city are reserved for farming and housing of farm workers and their families '--Walls--' The outer walls of an Ashed city tend to be anywhere between 10-30 meters tall, 4 meters thick at the top built of stone and steel supports. They are dotted with defensive emplacements such ramparts for pouring oil and firing ports for ballistae or catapults Sections of the wall are hollow on the inside to accommodate staircases and crank operated elevators. The inner walls match the height of the outer walls however are much thinner. Sections of the inner walls house Aqueducts for the cities water supply Gates to the city are built to be easily collapsible in the case of a breach. '--Central Tower--' The Central watchtower rises high above the city walls and can see every section from its vantage point. The top is part watchtower part communication tower that can send and receive messages via codes of flashing firelight directed with mirrors or beacons. The central tower has the schematics of the cities defenses and underground utility systems built into it for easy reference by tower guards. "The Handler" lives here --'''Undercity-- The labyrinth of stone sewer passages and gas pipes underneath every Ashed city in order to harvest the methane gasses coming off of the sewers, and the pipes that carry both clean and dirty water around the city. Maps of these areas are only owned by private plumbing or contracting guilds and the City council manager and are considered guarded information. --'Resource usage'--The Ashed by culture find a use for nearly everything. The methane gas coming from the sewer systems are harvested for blast furnace fuel, the ashes of cremated bodies are harvested for cement mixtures and bricks to go into city construction, the refuse from any food not eaten is recycled into food for pack animals or fertilizer for the fields. Renewable resources such as crops, wood, animals, are often sold at market, nonrenewable resources such as iron ore are often purchased in bulk from other civilizations so that they may refined and the finished product may be sold back at a profit, while these businesses may exist in the cities, they often have long standing trade agreements or mergers with other businesses. There are no graveyards in the city states, as it is considered insulting to waste space after death. Instead human bodies are stripped of useful material, the non useful material is cremated and the ash mixed with construction materials. This has led some of the more superstitious independent societies to declare the cities haunted. Category:Nations